The Bible and Science (Part 01)

Antony Flew tells what the book THERE IS A GOD: “How the world’s most notorious atheist changed his mind” is all about in the first part of the introduction from the book:

Ever since the announcement of my “conversion” to

deism, I have been asked on numerous occasions to pro-

vide an account of the factors that led me to change my

mind. In a few subsequent articles and in the new intro-

duction to the 2005 edition of my God and Philosophy, I

drew attention to recent works relevant to the ongoing dis-

cussion on God, but I did not elaborate further on my own

views. I have now been persuaded to present here what

might be called my last will and testament. In brief, as the

title says, I now believe there is a God!

The subtitle, “How the World’s Most Notorious Athe-

ist Changed His Mind,” was not my own invention. But it

is one I am happy to employ, for the invention and employ-

ment of apt yet arresting titles is for Flews something of a

family tradition. My theologian father once edited a col-

lection of essays by himself and some of his former stu-

dents and gave to this polemic paperback the paradoxical

and yet wholly appropriate and properly informative title

The Catholicity of Protestantism.In the matter of form of

presentation, if not of substantive doctrine, following his

example, I have in my time published papers with such

titles as “Do-gooders Doing No Good?” and “Is Pascal’s

Wager the Only Safe Bet?”

At the outset I should make one thing clear. When

reports of my change of mind were spread by the media

and the ubiquitous Internet, some commentators were

quick to claim that my advanced age had something to

do with my “conversion.” It has been said that fear concen-

trates the mind powerfully, and these critics had con-

cluded that expectations of an impending entrance into

the afterlife had triggered a deathbed conversion. Clearly

these people were familiar with neither my writings on

the nonexistence of an afterlife nor with my current views

on the topic. For over fifty years I have not simply denied

the existence of God, but also the existence of an afterlife.

My Gifford Lectures published as The Logic of Mortality

represent the culmination of this process of thought. This

is one area in which I have not changed my mind. Absent

special revelation, a possibility that is well represented

in this book by N. T. Wright’s contribution, I do not

think of myself “surviving” death. For the record, then, I

want to lay to rest all those rumors that have me placing

Pascalian bets.

I should point out, moreover, that this is not the first

time I “changed my mind” on a fundamental issue. Among

other things, readers who are familiar with my vigorous

defense of free markets may be surprised to learn that I

was once a Marxist (for details, see the second chapter of

this book). In addition, over two decades ago I retracted my

earlier view that all human choices are determined entirely

by physical causes.

Since this is a book about why I changed my mind

about the existence of God, an obvious question would

be what I believed before the “change” and why.The first

three chapters seek to answer this question, and the last

seven chapters describe my discovery of the Divine. In the

preparation of the last seven chapters, I was greatly helped

by discussions with Professor Richard Swinburne and Pro-

fessor Brian Leftow, the former and current occupants of

the Nolloth Chair at Oxford.

There are two appendices to the book.The first is an

analysis of the so-called new atheism of Richard Dawkins

and others by Roy Abraham Varghese.The second is an

open-ended dialogue on a topic of great interest to most

religious believers—the issue of whether there is any kind

of divine revelation in human history, with specific attention

to the claims made about Jesus of Nazareth. In the inter-

est of furthering the dialogue, the New Testament scholar

N.T. Wright, who is the present bishop of Durham, kindly

provided his assessment of the body of historical fact that

underlies Christian theists’ faith in Christ.In fact, I have to

say here that Bishop Wright presents by far the best case for

accepting Christian belief that I have ever seen.

Making Sense of Faith and Science

Uploaded on May 16, 2008

Dr. H. Fritz Schaefer confronts the assertion that one cannot believe in God and be a credible scientist. He explains that the theistic world view of Bacon, Kepler, Pascal, Boyle, Newton, Faraday and Maxwell was instrumental in the rise of modern science itself. Presented as part of the Let There be Light series. Series: Let There Be Light [5/2003] [Humanities] [Show ID: 7338]

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Discussion (1 of 3): Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas

Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010

A discussion with Antony Flew, N.T. Wright, and Gary Habermas. This was held at Westminster Chapel March, 2008

Is Goodness Without God is Good Enough? William Lane Craig vs. Paul Kurtz

____________ Jesus’ Resurrection: Atheist, Antony Flew, and Theist, Gary Habermas, Dialogue Published on Apr 7, 2012 http://www.veritas.org/talks – Did Jesus die, was he buried, and what happened afterward? Join legendary atheist Antony Flew and Christian historian and apologist Gary Habermas in a discussion about the facts surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Join the […]

_______ ________ Does God Exist?: William Lane Craig vs Antony Flew Uploaded on Dec 16, 2010 http://drcraigvideos.blogspot.com – William Lane Craig and Antony Flew met in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God’s existence in a public debate. Unlike Richard Dawkins, Flew was one of the most […]

_________________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his […]

_____________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his death […]

___________ Does God Exist?: William Lane Craig vs Antony Flew Uploaded on Dec 16, 2010 http://drcraigvideos.blogspot.com – William Lane Craig and Antony Flew met in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the famous Copleston/Russell debate to discuss the question of God’s existence in a public debate. Unlike Richard Dawkins, Flew was one of the most respected […]

___________ ________ Antony Flew – World’s Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God Uploaded on Nov 28, 2008 Has Science Discovered God? A half-century ago, in 1955, Professor Antony Flew set the agenda for modern atheism with his Theology and Falsification, a paper presented in a debate with C.S. Lewis. This work became the most […]

________ Antony Flew on God and Atheism Published on Feb 11, 2013 Lee Strobel interviews philosopher and scholar Antony Flew on his conversion from atheism to deism. Much of it has to do with intelligent design. Flew was considered one of the most influential and important thinker for atheism during his time before his death […]

__________ Robert Jastrow on God and the Big Bang Published on Jun 26, 2012 Henry “Fritz” Schaefer comments on a popular quote made by scientist Robert Jastrow. Jastrow (who Carl Sagan was too scared to debate) is an agnostic but believes that the Big Bang leaves room for the existence of God. ____________ William Lane Craig […]

Is Richard Dawkins a secular bigot? Maybe the best person to address this was the famous atheist Antony Flew who left his atheism in 2004. Flew Slams Dawkins… Labels: Books, Religion & Society By Regis Nicoll|Published Date: August 25, 2008 …as a “secular bigot.” After the world’s most influential atheist stunned the atheist community with his book There Is a […]

Today I am going to look at H.J. Blackham and the artist featured today is Arturo Herrera. Herrera’s art interests me because it is based on the idea that accidental chance can bring about something beautiful and that is the same place that materialistic modern men like Blackham have turned to when they have concluded […]